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Homeschooling and Animal Planet

We have a ‘TV off until 4 PM’ policy in our homeschool. There is one exception though. I allow the kids to watch Animal Planet almost whenever they please. (So I guess it is an ‘educational TV only before 4 PM’ policy). They mostly watch Animal Planet in the early afternoons and they also watch it a lot in the summer when I lighten their workloads.

Animal Planet is an awesome channel and teaches my kids about so much. Many of the topics,I know nothing about. Here are some of the things they have learned.

1. How a baby is born. When the time came to talk about the bird’s and the bees, I really did not have a whole lot to add since the children had watched hours and hours of horses, dogs, and other animals deliver babies.

2. How to take care of our pets. Animal planet has several daytime shows that talk about how to take care of and even train your pets. Sometimes my children take notes.

3. Things not to do with and around animals. We all loved Steve Irwin, but knew better than to emulate his techniques.

4. All about sharks: My kids and I were watching an Animal Planet show tonight called Predator Bay. My kids were able to name all of the types of sharks.

5. All about the evolution of humans from apes: They don’t necessarily buy it, no one can say I kept them from learning about evolution.

They know these things and so much more. If it is about animals, and they have seen it, chances are they have absorbed it. In addition, we utilize AnimalPlanet.com to learn more and to play interactive games that teach even more. Animal planet is a subsidiary of Discover Channel. I do not limit access to either of these channels.